Human rights indicators

Tools for measuring progress

Human rights indicators are essential in the implementation of human rights standards and commitments, to support policy formulation, impact assessment and transparency.

OHCHR has developed a framework of indicators to respond to a longstanding demand to develop and deploy appropriate statistical indicators in furthering the cause of human rights.

One of the recommendations of the World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna was the use and analysis of indicators to help measure progress in human rights.

Several years of research and consultation went into the development of this tool. It was guided by the principles of universality, impartiality, objectivity and cooperation to strengthen the capacity of Member States in meeting their human rights obligations.

This framework is already being applied by national governments, national human rights institutions and non-governmental organisations worldwide.

Human Rights-Based Approach to Data

OHCHR has developed the Human Rights-Based Approach to Data (HRBAD), demonstrating how data can be produced following international human rights and statistical standards while putting people at the center. It operationalizes the "leave no-one behind" principle and draws attention to human rights and their practical and normative contributions to ensuring meaningful participation, especially by vulnerable and at-risk groups, in all stages of the data life cycle. The approach also improves visibility around groups left behind and reinforces equality and non-discrimination. In addition, the HRBAD highlights the nexus between human rights standards and data-specific ethical and professional principles, particularly the Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics. It espouses six key principles: participation, self-identification, data disaggregation, privacy, transparency, and accountability that national statistical systems need to operationalize.

OHCHR is strengthening institutional linkages and collaboration between National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) and National Statistical Offices (NSOs) to make human rights count for everyone, including the use of a model Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) as a tool for the formalization of collaborative working relationships. The MoU seeks to assist parties in sharing knowledge and expertise and collaborating on official data collection, dissemination and analysis. These relationships could be valuable in implementing and measuring progress within the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and translating the Merida Declaration adopted by NHRIs at the country level.